Capital Region Pontiacs
CBA 1992-1993

The Capital Region Pontiacs were a renamed version of the Albany Patroons. The Patroons' owner, Joe O'Hara, received corporate sponsorship from the local car dealerships to keep the team alive for another year.

Although other minor league squads contained corporate sponsorship in their name - including several CBA / Eastern League teams, such as the Sunbury Mercuries (named for a local Mercury car dealership) and the Coors-sponsored Cedar Rapids Silver Bullets - this was one of the first times where a team itself had been renamed. For the Patroons fans, it was akin to christening the Yankees as the New York Microsofts.

It was just as big a nightmare for the CBA, who had already printed the 1992-93 CBA media guide, with the team still listed as the Patroons. Some of the teams balked at the corporate renaming of the Patroons, threatening to call them by their original nickname on road trips.

The Pontiacs also had a problem on the court as well. CBA teams not only had to deal with NBA call-ups of their talent, but also European call-ups - a CBA coach, for example, might discover his star forward just signed a contract to play professional basketball in Turkey, at three times the price of a CBA paycheck. Michael Curry, one of the Pontiacs' top players, eventually signed with an Italian league team, just as the team was headed for a tough road trip. The Pontiacs eventually made do with whatever players they could acquire, including well-traveled Brook Steppe, and 7'7" Chuck Nevitt, nicknamed the "Human Victory Cigar" because teams only put the poor-shooting center on the court in mop-up situations. Even their coach, former Cleveland State coach Kevin Mackey, couldn't keep the team winning, and he was replaced in February 1993 by Jim Price.

And to top it all off, the local media suddenly treated the Pontiacs with the same attention as relatives waiting for a grandparent to die so that the will can be administered. Television stations filmed the empty upper deck of the Knickerbocker Arena before showing the team's highlights. One station went so far as to have its sports reporter sit in the highest seat in the upper deck - only to discover a "fan" planted in his seat. One radio station even created a goof recording of the sounds at a Pontiacs game - a basketball bouncing on the floor and crickets chirping.

Still, the Pontiacs gave their heart and soul to the 3,000 fans who continued to come to the games, even with rumors of the team's eventual sale - or relocation - or closure. Even at the time of the Pontiacs' final home game, a victory over the Quad City Thunder, the franchise still had a mathematical possibility of reaching the playoffs. A season-ending six game road trip dashed those hopes.

By the 1993-94 season, the Pontiacs relocated to Hartford, Connecticut, and became the Hellcats.

             W   L   QW     QP   Result
1992-1993   28  28  113.0 197.0  out of playoffs

1992-1993 Did Not Make Playoffs